The 59-year-old inmate was serving a 25-years-to-life term for petty theft with a third-strike enhancement. He was received by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation on May 7, 1996, and had been housed at CSP-C since August 3, 2011. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The cause of death has not yet been determined, but it is being investigated as a homicide by the Kings County District Attorney’s Office. The prison’s Investigative Services Unit is cooperating with the investigation, and the Office of the Inspector General’s Bureau of Independent Review has been notified.

A 38-year-old inmate serving a sentence of life without possibility of parole from Los Angeles County for first-degree murder has been named as a suspect. His name is being withheld pending investigation.

CSP-Corcoran opened in 1988. The prison, five miles south of Corcoran, houses nearly 5,000 minimum-, medium-, maximum- and high-security inmates. The Kings County prison offers academic classes and vocational programs. It employs approximately 2,325 people.